


wither

by encanta



Category: Wonderfalls
Genre: Angst, Canon divergence (episode), Character Study, Eating Disorders, Gen, Happy(ish) ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-19
Updated: 2014-03-19
Packaged: 2018-01-16 06:42:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1335820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/encanta/pseuds/encanta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"are you starving yourself again?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	wither

**Author's Note:**

> i love sharon to pieces but i also like their episode one dynamic, so mind the sharon-lookin'-like-a-douche.

_“Are you starving yourself again?”_

It’s unexpected, so it stings. She’s usually so good at dodging these things, or letting them glance off her at just the right angle, and Sharon’s lobs are usually so heavy-handed that they almost always miss their mark.

Not tonight.

Jaye’s blasé ‘couldn’t-care-less’ persona is so easily come by that she doesn’t even react beyond what’s expected. “Why are you being such a _cow_?” she demands, sounding just this side of irritated. It’s always been easy to get under her sister’s skin – Jaye may be an underachiever but she isn’t stupid. She knows exactly which buttons of Sharon’s she should press to get the desired reaction, which is why she’s so caught off guard now, because the question might be wrapped up all neat with a bow of concern, but they both know what Sharon’s playing at, and it’s not nice.

It’s not nice at all.

Sharon drops her off at the trailer park and Jaye slams the car door as hard as possible, then stomps inside her trailer. The anger’s easier, more palatable, than the other emotions Sharon’s triggered. She might have a shell she’s carefully lacquered to a perfected hardness but she’s a _person_ , dammit, and there are feelings and experiences lurking underneath there somewhere, in the muck and the wit that is at the heart of Jaye Tyler.

She sits down heavily at her little table, the wax lion looking up at her almost dolefully.

“Shut up,” she says sharply, before it can ruin her night even further. The trailer is silent and she sounds crazy even to her own ears.

It’s been eight years since she quit starving herself, and honestly, it’s really not something she thinks about much anymore, which might be recovery but might also just be a smaller part of the bigger wave of indifference that’s crashed over Jaye’s life.

It’s when she sits down to think about it that it only feels like just yesterday.

She hadn’t always been as untouchable, as fearless. Her persona was something she’d worked for, something she’d cried and bled for. Something she’d hurt herself for, before she’d known there was any other way.

Jaye wants to mock her younger, weaker self, but she can’t. She can’t bear to stoop down and hurt that frail little girl, the one who fainted in class and woke up in the nurses’ station with her parents hovering nervously over her. A lot of people had already beaten her to the punch there, anyway.

It hadn’t helped, either, that her older siblings had always seemed so fucking put together, even when they weren’t so old. Sharon had always been destined for a high-powered career, and Aaron had always been destined to be the pretty boy. What had Jaye been destined for? Life-long detention?

If her younger self could see her older self, it might not help things. Hopefully no one ever invents time machines.

Tugging the corner of her mouth into a grimace, Jaye tucks her hair behind her ear and slumps forward on the table, her chin in her hand as she stares at the lion. There’s a very small part of her rearing its head and telling her to starve herself to get back at Sharon, a completely childish ‘ _that’ll show you_ ’ but she’s twenty-four and while she might not be past getting arrested for assault, she’s past hurting herself to get the attention of other people.

Plus, she has leftover pizza in the refrigerator, and nothing beats leftover pizza. And also, the lion’s saying, “Don’t do it,” in that seriously annoying voice. She’d really prefer the crazy silence, to be honest.

“I’m not gonna,” Jaye groans, irritated. “And can you read my thoughts? That’s seriously creepy. I’m definitely banking on you being Satan now.”

She sits, eyes narrowed, and stares at the wax lion a minute longer, before shaking her head and getting up to get the pizza and a beer. Dropping the box on the table, she throws it open and grabs a slice, then twists the cap off her bottle. The lion stares unblinkingly, which is actually sort of disconcerting.

“You know, it’s rude to watch us eat,” she says, waving the folded slice at it, before bringing it to her mouth and chewing carefully. Oh, yes. Jaye closes her eyes happily, taking another, bigger bite. Pizza. Pizza and beer. The best things in life.

If they ever did end up inventing that time machine, she’d have to go back and teach her fifteen year-old-self the finer merits of pizza and beer, she thinks, slumping down deeper in the chair. She finishes her crust and flicks crumbs into the empty box before shutting it and flinging it toward the trash.

“If Sharon’s worried my ‘sode has to do with starving myself, how do you think she’d react if she knew it was actually all because of you?” Jaye asks the lion, arching an eyebrow.

The lion winks.


End file.
